For 2012′s first quarter, the IPO market has been red-hot. Just yesterday, Annie’s (NYSE:BNNY) public offering soared by nearly 90%. Clearly, it wasn’t alone in making big IPO news during the period. So, what were some of the top IPO stories for the quarter? Let’s take a look:
Facebook Finally Files

The Facebook filing is definitely the biggest story for the quarter. The buzz is that the company will raise over $10 billion and will come public some time in May.

But there have already been some hiccups. A few weeks ago, Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) filed a patent infringement suit against Facebook. The Internet portal alleged violations on 10 patents, which cover areas like personalized advertising, messaging and social networking. Read

Facebook is gearing up for one of the biggest initial public offerings in recent history, but it looks like Mark Zuckerberg thinks it is a non-event. He recently blew off the first meeting with Wall Street bankers and analysts. Instead, he thought it was more important to focus on product development.

This week — after being spotted vacationing in China, no less — Zuckerberg landed in Japan and even met with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. At least he took that seriously, though — Zuckerberg wore a suit for the occasion.

While in Japan, Zuckerberg discussed the importance of Facebook during the earthquake and tsunami last year. And the user count in Japan has doubled over the past six months alone, to a whopping 10 million. Read

Annie’s (NYSE:BNNY), which is a top brand for organic packaged foods, fed investors’ appetite for hot IPOs today. The company priced 5 million shares at $19, which was above the $16 to $18 range. In today’s trading, the stock is up over 72%. The lead underwriters included Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) and JPMorganChase (NYSE:JPM).

Annie Withey co-founded Annie’s back in 1989 because she wanted to build a company focused on healthy — and delicious — foods. The first product was macaroni and cheese, which turned into a big hit.

But to turn the company into a national brand, Annie hired John Foraker as the CEO in 2004. It was a smart move. He wasted little time in moving into new categories. Annie’s is now the No. 1 natural and organic brand for macaroni and cheese, snack crackers, fruit snacks and graham crackers. Read

Vocera Communications (NYSE:VCRA), which develops mobile devices for the health care industry, issued 5.85 shares at $16 each — above the $12-to-$14 price range. And in today’s trading, the stock is up 33%. The lead underwriters included JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Piper Jaffray.

Over the past decade, Vocera has manufactured wearable devices — which weigh less than 2 ounces — that allow nurses to have two-way communication. They are built to be durable, as well as usable in noisy environments.

Based in Silicon Valley, Tom Taulli is in the heart of IPO land. On a regular basis, he talks with many of the top tech CEOs and founders trying to find the next hot deals and finding out which start-ups are stinkers.

A long-time follower of the IPO scene, back in 1999 Tom started one of the first sites in the space called WebIPO. It was a place where investors got research as well as access to deals for the dot-com boom. Tom also wrote the top-selling book, Investing in IPOs. In it, he covers all the aspects of analyzing an IPO, such as reading the prospectus, detecting the risk factors and understanding some of the arcane regulations. But don’t worry — if that process is too intimidating for you, thankfully Tom will do the legwork for you right here in the IPO Playbook blog.

Tom is routinely quoted in the media about upcoming deals with his interviews on CNBC and Bloomberg TV, but he is eager to take your questions too. You can message him on Twitter at @ttaulli. And feel free to weigh in via the comments section on any of his IPO Playbook posts.